The Oil Sector
The State of Qatar conducts its principal oil operation through State-owned Qatar Petroleum (QP), which manages Qatar’s oil, gas, petrochemicals and refining enterprises in Qatar and abroad.
The Government oil policy has the twin aim of replenishing proven reserves within currently producing fields and identifying additional new reserves. QP has embarked upon an investment program with the intention of expanding oil production capacity from its onshore and offshore fields to around 1 million bpd by year-end 2006.
However, following the decision of  OPEC, Qatar agreed to cut its oil production of  35,000 bpd starting from 1st November 2006.  QP produces oil on its own account from one unit onshore and two offshore fields and from other fields through Exploration/Development and Production Sharing Agreement (EPSAs/DPSAs) with major international partners such as Occidental Petroleum, Maersk Oil, TotalFinaElf Qatar and Anadarko Petroleum.
Qatar’s oil production averaged 730,000 bpd in 2003, with and averaged price of $25.5 p/b (Qatar’s oil prices are based on the average of a basket of two crudes, Dukhan and Marine). During the first eight months of 2004 Qatar’s oil production was increased to 744,000 bpd with an averaged price of 33,9 $ p/b.
The actual oil production stands at around 800,000 bpd.

The Natural Gas Sector
Qatar’s North Gas Field, discovered in 1971, is the largest non-associated gas field in the world, with proven reserves currently estimated at over 900 trillion cubic feet (tcf), which is equivalent to about 162 billion barrels of oil. These reserves would translate into 15.3% of the world total and will be sufficient to support planned production of natural gas for over 200 years.

Qatar LNG Projects
QP has initiated and developed two major LNG projects with foreign shareholders for the purpose of utilizing the North Field gas for exports in the form of LNG. These projects are Qatargas and RasGas. Expansion of LNG facilities through RasGas II, Qatargas II and Qatargas III is being pursued to meet additional export opportunities. Sales and Purchase Agreements (SPA) have been reached with a number of countries, which at their peak in 2009 will reach 27.7 million tons per annum (mtpa). With planned expansion projects in the LNG, total LNG exports would reach about 77 mtpa by 2010.

Other Natural Gas Projects
Dolphin Project. This is the first export pipeline project in the GCC region to provide dry gas to UAE and to Oman. This project will be the basis for a GCC gas grid.
Khaleej Gas Project. ExxonMobil will handle this new upstream gas development with power generation (Ras Laffan)  being the initial major user.
The European Union will become a major market for Qatari LNG.
Europe is fast emerging as a major market for Qatari LNG and the European Union is expected to receive some 28 millions tonnnes of LNG from Qatar by 2010. In particulare Qatar has developed a mega project in the UK (Qatargas II) which will ensure supply of 15.8 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas for 25 years from 2008. RasGas-II has also acquired a large terminal capacity in Belgium (3,4 million tonnes annually) in addition to developing the offshore LNG terminal of Rovigo on the Italian Adriatic Coast (6 million tonnes annually). In Spain, both Qatar and Oman have committed to long term LNG sales to Spanish buyers including Gas Natural, Endesa and Union Fenosa.

Monetary Policy
The monetary management in Qatar is implemented by Qatar Central Bank (QCB) which was established by Law No. 15 for the year 1993, from what was formerly called the Qatar Monetary Agency (QMA). The main objective of the QCB is to regulate the monetary, credit and banking policies in accordance with the general plans of the State, in order to support the national economy and the stability of the currency. QCB has full powers over the monetary policies of the State, and supervises and controls banks and financial institutions.

Exchange Rate Policy
The Qatari Riyal is officially pegged to the US dollar at a rate of 1US$ = 3.64 QR.

Interest Rate Policy
In February 2001, the QCB removed its ceiling on interest rates for local currency deposits, freeing the banking system from all interest rate policy restrictions.
Short-term interest rates in Qatar follow closely those prevailing in the US, with a slight positive differential.

Banking Sector
The Qatari banking sector is comprised of a combination of national and foreign banks. A specialized Government-owned institution, the Qatari Development Bank, was established in 1997 to provide financing to small and medium scale industries. The banking sector is supervised by the Qatari Central Bank (QCB). Among the most important banks there are the Qatar National Bank, the Doha Bank, the Commercialbank. Among the foreign Bank there are the HSBC, the Standard Chartered Bank, the BNP Paribas.

Public Finance
The Government’s primary source of budget revenues are oil and gas related, which are generated by QP’s activities. In addition to such export receipts, the Government obtains revenues primarily from dividend income of other industrial enterprises. Other sources of Government revenues are taxes, custom duties and charges.
On May 2005 Qatar set up an international financial centre which should attract premier financial institutions and multinational corporates. Qatar Financial Center (QFC) is totally independent and governed by a regulatory authority. The Minister of Economy and Commerce said neither the Qatar Central Bank nor the Ministry of Finance or the Ministry of Economy and Commerce will have any control on QFC which will also function as an international business centre.

Doha Securities Market
The Doha Securities Market (DSM) is governed by Law No. 14 and was officially opened on 26th May 1997. The administration and regulation of activities on the Securities Market is governed by the “Market Committee”, comprising of eleven members recommended by the Minister of Economy and Commerce and appointed by the Council of Ministers. The companies currently listed on the DSM are 38.In August 2002, a New Mutual Funds Law (No. 25) was issued, which allows non-Qatari’s to invest in the DSM through the medium of mutual funds. GCC citizens are allowed to own and trade in up to 25% of DSM listed shares, with the exception of the banking and insurance sectors.On February 6th the Emir, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, has ratified a law allowing foreigners to trade on the Qatari bourse, starting from April 3rd, subject to a restriction of 25 per cent ownership of the issued capital of a listed firm. According to the Ministry of Economy and Commerce the decision to open up the Doha Securities Market to foreigners does not include initial public offerings (IPOs). Therefore foreigners, including expatriates, will not be allowed to access the primary market.

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